- how much I simply enjoy their performances, regardless of what I think of the movies themselves;
- the quality and distinctness of their acting style; and
- how much I connect with them personally.
1. Al Pacino
Not everything he touches turns to gold...but almost! For decades of amazing style, likability and sheer volume of great performances, Al's my number one. The Godfather trilogy (all three), Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, And Justice For All, Scarface, Sea of Love, Dick Tracy, Glengarry Glen Ross, Carlito's Way, Heat, Looking For Richard, City Hall, Donnie Brasco, The Devil's Advocate, The Insider, Any Given Sunday, Insomnia, You Don't Know Jack (TV)
2. Robert De Niro
Like Al, he's one of the industry's most intense, iconic, and thoroughly enjoyable actors. Love him. Mean Streets, The Godfather II, Taxi Driver, The Last Tycoon, New York, New York, The Deer Hunter, Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, Once Upon a Time in America, Brazil, The Mission, Angel Heart, The Untouchables, Midnight Run, We're No Angels, Stanley & Iris, Goodfellas, Awakenings, Guilty by Suspicion, Cape Fear, Casino, Heat, Cop Land, Jackie Brown, Wag the Dog, Ronin, Analyze This, Flawless, Men of Honor, The Score, Meet The Parents, The Good Shepherd, Stardust, Limitless)
3. Christopher Walken
All caricatures aside, there's simply no one else like Sir Walken. Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, The Dogs of War, Brainstorm, The Dead Zone, A View to a Kill, At Close Range, The Milagro Beanfield War, Biloxi Blues, Communion, King of New York, Batman Returns, Pulp Fiction, Suicide Kings, Antz, Sarah: Plain & Tall, Catch Me If You Can, Domino.
4. Daniel Day Lewis
This guy gets inside my soul, whether playing saint or devil. The Bounty, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, My Left Foot, In The Name of the Father, The Crucible, Gangs of New York, There Will Be Blood. Can't wait for Lincoln!
5. Geoffrey Rush
Brilliant, funny, penetratingly honest and richly-textured performances always. Twelfth Night, Shine, Elizabeth, Les Miserables, Shakespeare in Love, House on Haunted Hill, Quills, The Tailor of Panama, Frida, Finding Nemo, Pirates of the Caribbean, Life & Death of Peter Sellers, Munich, The King's Speech.
6. Denzel Washington
Tough, suave, saintly and deadly all at once. You don't mess with Denzel. A Soldier's Story, Cry Freedom, Glory, Mo' Better Blues, Malcolm X, The Pelican Brief, Philadelphia, Crimson Tide, Courage Under Fire, The Preacher's Wife, He Got Game, The Siege, The Hurricane, Remember the Titans, Training Day, John Q, Antwone Fisher, Man on Fire, The Manchurian Candidate, Inside Down, American Gangster, The Taking of Pelham 123, The Book of Eli.
7. Russell Crowe
Roman general, ship captain, boxer or corporate whistle blower, you don't mess with this guy either! The Quick & The Dead, L.A. Confidential, Mystery, Alaska, The Insider, Gladiator, Proof of Life, A Beautiful Mind, Master & Commander, Cinderella Man, 3:10 to Yuma, American Gangster, Body of Lies, State of Play, Robin Hood. Waiting impatiently for his turn as Javert in Les Miserables and Jor-El in Chris Nolan's Man of Steel!
8. Morgan Freeman
Not just the voice but also the sense that everything's going to be alright so long as he's around, even as Speed Reader in the '70s TV kid's classic, The Electric Company. Teachers, Glory, Driving Miss Daisy, Lean on Me, Unforgiven, The Power of One, The Shawshank Redemption, Outbreak, Se7en, Moll Flanders, Amistad, Kiss the Girls, Deep Impact, The Sum of All Fears, Bruce Almighty, Million Dollar Baby, March of the Penguins, Batman Begins, Lucky Number Slevin, Unleashed, Feast of Love, Gone Baby Gone, The Bucket List, The Dark Knight, Invictus, Red, and the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises.
9. Clint Eastwood
I love this man. What a career! Director, producer, composer...but an actor first. I remember the days when he was written off as just another action movie goon. Who knew? Simply too many to name, so I'll shorthand some of it: TV's Rawhide, The Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns, the Dirty Harry films, Play Misty For Me, Every Which But Loose, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Escape From Alcatraz, Firefox,Honkytonk Man, Pale Rider, Heartbreak Ridge, The Dead Pool, Unforgiven, In The Line of Fire, Absolute Power, True Crime, Space Cowboys, Million Dollar Baby, Gran Torino.
10. Harrison Ford
I'll always associate three names with my childhood and my life-long love for movies: Lucas, Spielberg, and Harrison Ford. Think about it: Ford has played icon after icon (Han Solo, Indiana Jones, Rick Deckard, and Jack Ryan to name a few) with that rare combo of "kick-ass" and "vulnerable" few other actors can pull off. American Graffiti, the original Star Wars trilogy, Force 10 From Navarone, Apocalypse Now, Hanover Street, The Frisco Kid, The Indiana Jones Quadrilogy, Blade Runner, Witness, The Mosquito Coast, Frantic, Working Girl, Presumed Innocent, Regarding Henry, Patriot Games, The Fugitive, Sabrina, The Devil's Own, Air Force One, What Lies Beneath, Cowboys & Aliens.
11. Ed Harris
Few actors climb into a role, inhabit it, and get our attention the way Harris does. He's got my complete attention anytime he's onscreen and it's always a clinic on how to get the job done! The Right Stuff, Places in the Heart, Jacknife, The Abyss, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Firm, Needful Things, Nixon, Apollo 13, The Rock, Absolute Power, Stepmom, The Truman Show, Pollock, Waking the Dead, A Beautiful Mind, Enemy at the Gates, The Hours, Catch Me If You Can, The Human Stain, Winter Passing, A History of Violence, Gone Baby Gone, Cleaner, National Treasure, Appoloosa.
12. Michael Fassbender
I must have dozed off for half a decade because somewhere between 300 and Prometheus, Fassbender went from "who is this guy?" to "you gotta see this guy!" Quick, write this down: Hunger, Inglorious Basterds, Centurion, A Dangerous Method, and Shame. Now go watch them. Go now.
13. Leonardo DiCaprio
In my opinion, the hands-down finest actor of his generation. Relaxed and jovial or obsessive-compulsive and crazy intense, Leo simply knows how to get your attention (especially when he pairs up with my fave director, Martin Scorsese). This Boy's Life, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, The Quick & The Dead, The Basketball Diaries, Romeo + Juliet, Marvin's Room, Titanic, The Man in the Iron Mask, Catch Me If You Can, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Blood Diamond, Body of Lies, Revolutionary Road, Shutter Island, Inception, J. Edgar, and the upcoming Tarantino western, Django Unchained.
14. Alan Rickman
So devlish and yet so reassuring. Arguably the U.K.'s greatest talent, Rickman's acting is like a fine wine: rich, good to the last drop and leaving you wanting more. Die Hard (so good!), Quigley Down Under, Truly, Madly, Deeply, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (really, he's the only reason to watch it), Bob Roberts, Sense & Sensibility, Michael Collins, Dogma, Galaxy Quest, Snape in The Harry Potter movies, Love Actually, Sweeney Todd, Bottle Shock.
15. Jack Nicholson
Ah, Jack. Where do I begin? Little Shop of Horrors or Easy Rider? Then there's Five Easy Pieces, The Last Detail, Chinatown, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Last Tycoon, The Shining, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Reds, The Border, Terms of Endearment, Prizzi's Honor, Heartburn, The Witches of Eastwick, Broadcast News, Ironweed, Batman, A Few Good Men, Hoffa, Mars Attacks!, As Good As It Gets, About Schmidt, Anger Management, Something's Gotta Give, The Bucket List, and The Departed!
16. Jeff Bridges
Forever the Dude and cat of tremendous range! The Last Picture Show, King Kong, Tron, Against All Odds, Star Man, Jagged Edge, The Morning After, Tucker, The Fabulous Baker Boys (with brother Beau), The Fisher King (wow!), Fearless (double wow!), White Squall, The Mirror Has Two Faces, The Big Lebowski, Arlington Road (chilling), The Contender (inspiring), Seabiscuit (sad), K-PAX (sadder), Iron Man (bad guy, really?), Crazy Heart, The Men Who Stare At Goats, Tron: Legacy, True Grit.
17. Anthony Hopkins
Sorry, Mr. Rickman, I was wrong: Hopkins is, in my opinion, England's best. What a career! After years of British TV and multiple award nominations, to the big screen with A Bridge Too Far, The Elephant Man, The Bounty, The Good Father, Desperate Hours, the iconic Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs trilogy, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Chaplin, The Remains of the Day, Shadowlands, The Road to Wellville, Legends of the Fall, Nixon, Surviving Picasso, The Edge, Amistad, The Mask of Zorro, Meet Joe Black, Instinct, Titus, Hearts in Atlantis, Alexander, Bobby, Fracture, Beowulf, Thor, and the upcoming Hitchcock as, well, Hitchcock!
18. Michael Caine
Like Morgan Freeman, as soon as Sir Caine walks on screen my chaos turns to calm. (Maybe that's why they're both in Bruce Wayne's retinue?) Alfie, Gambit, The Italian Job, The Man Who Would Be King, Deathtrap, Educating Rita, Blame It On Rio, The Whistle Blower, The Fourth Protocol, Without a Clue, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Muppet Christmas Carol, The Cider House Rules, Quills, Miss Congeniality, Austin Powers in Goldmember, The Quiet American, Batman Begins, Children of Men, The Dark Knight, Harry Brown, and the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises.
19. Christopher Plummer
Canada's crown jewel, Plummer thanks a badly negotiated deal on The Sound of Music for forcing him into a long and illustrious career. The Man Who Would Be King, Jesus of Nazareth, Hanover Street, Somewhere in Time, The Thorn Birds (TV), Star Trek VI, Dolores Claiborne, 12 Monkeys, The Insider, Nuremberg, A Beautiful Mind, Nicholas Nickelby, National Treasure, Alexander, Inside Man, Up, Caesar & Cleopatra, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Beginners, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
20. Tom Hanks
Mr. Nice Guy hasn't always just been Sleepless in Seattle. Starting with TV's Bosom Buddies back in the 80s, he cracked me up for years before getting seriously serious and surprising us with his range. Splash, Bachelor Party, The Man With One Red Shoe, Nothing in Common, Big, A League of Their Own, Sleepless in Seattle, Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, Toy Story (all three), That Thing You Do!, Saving Private Ryan, You've Got Mail, The Green Mile, Cast Away, Catch Me If You Can, The Da Vinci Code, Charlie Wilson's War, and as writer/producer, HBO's Band of Brothers.
* * *
And again, having to cut it off somewhere, my next in line:
England & Europe's finest, past & present:
Ralph Fiennes, Richard Harris, Ian McKellan, Peter O'Toole, Max Von Sydow, Ben Kingsley, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman, Tim Roth, Kenneth Branagh, Christian Bale, Clive Owen, Colin Farrell, Daniel Craig, Christopher Waltz, Hugh Grant, Rutger Hauer, Jude Law
America's sweethearts, past & present:
James Stewart, Paul Newman, Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Dustin Hoffman, Robert Duvall, Robert Redford, Martin Sheen, Michael Douglas, Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Spacey, Nicolas Cage, Sean Penn, Bill Murray, George Clooney, Mel Gibson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Mickey Rourke, Samuel L. Jackson, Jason Strathairn, Jeff Godlblum, Jeff Daniels, Mark Ruffalo, John Cusack, Greg Kinnear
Various masters in their prime:
Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Will Smith, Viggo Mortensen, Matt Damon, Woody Harrelson, Ryan Goslin, Javier Bardem, Sam Rockwell
Funny guys who are also great actors:
Kevin Kline, Steve Martin, Jim Carrey, Robin Williams, Robert Downey Jr., Paul Giamatti, Steve Carell, Kelsey Grammer
are you saying that Leonardo Dicaprio is better than Anthony Hopkins?! D:
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